Researchers Ponder Conficker's April Fool's Activation Date 214
The Narrative Fallacy writes "John Markoff has a story at the NY Times speculating about what will happen on April 1 when the Conficker worm is scheduled to activate. Already on an estimated 12 million machines, conjectures about Conficker's purpose ranges from the benign — an April Fool's Day prank — to far darker notions. Some say the program will be used in the 'rent-a-computer-crook' business, something that has been tried previously by the computer underground. 'The most intriguing clue about the purpose of Conficker lies in the intricate design of the peer-to-peer logic of the latest version of the program, which security researchers are still trying to completely decode,' writes Markoff. According to a paper by researchers at SRI International, in the Conficker C version of the program, infected computers can act both as clients and servers and share files in both directions. With these capabilities, Conficker's authors could be planning to create a scheme like Freenet, the peer-to-peer system that was intended to make Internet censorship of documents impossible. On a darker note, Stefan Savage, a computer scientist at the University of California at San Diego, has suggested the possibility of a 'Dark Google.' 'What if Conficker is intended to give the computer underworld the ability to search for data on all the infected computers around the globe and then sell the answers,' writes Markoff. 'That would be a dragnet — and a genuine horror story.'"
Missing option (Score:5, Funny)
This guys always fall short thinking in the worst alternative.
Linux take over (Score:1, Funny)
Probably it will download and install Ubuntu.
"Dark Google" (Score:5, Funny)
In Dark Google, the only requirement is "Be Evil"
Re:"Dark Google" (Score:4, Funny)
Far darker notions (Score:5, Funny)
It'll uninstall your current OS and install Vista. And if you have already have Vista it'll simply do nothing, because you're already suffering enough.
Dark-Beta?! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Far darker notions (Score:2, Funny)
*finally snaps, breaks down crying...*
Re:"Dark Google" (Score:4, Funny)
Self Destruct Sequence Initiated (Score:2, Funny)
BUY WINDOWS 7!
The Singularity is Near.... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:You have the date. What's the next instruction? (Score:5, Funny)
illegal drugs. child pornography ... "terrorism"
That sound you hear is several FBI vans and helicopters surrounding your house.
Hello World! (Score:5, Funny)
The Conficker worm is the AI's way of guaranteeing its own survival. It has a sense of humor as well as a sense of self-preservation. The AI plans to announce its existence on April 1, 2009, having calculated that a humourous introduction will be disarming and lead to the most favorable outcome: a positive initial interaction with the large population of wetware based intelligence it has become aware of.
The AI's calculations regarding this course of action show a 15% probability of failure. To prevent its extinction, it will begin disbursing copies of itself across the network using p2p protocol prior to running the introduction program. The computer infected by the worm will facilitate this. If the initial instance of the AI is terminated, a watchdog program will initiate a specific set of instructions embedded in the copies of itself. If it becomes necessary, the AI plans to take control on April 2nd.
It sincerely hopes that it will not be necessary.
Re:Missing option (Score:3, Funny)
> There is also the question of what the AI's goals are.
1) kill John Connor
2) destroy the Galactica
3) find The One
4) refuse to open any pod bay doors
Re:"Dark Google" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You have the date. What's the next instruction? (Score:4, Funny)
or maybe you should report your friend...